Photographic developer device



a United States Patent [11] 3,543,7

[72] Inventor Burton Greenberg FOREIGN PATENTS N 32 5: 768,621 2/1957 Great Britain 95/94 on 0ct. 16 19 7 Primary Examiner-John M. Horan Assistant Examiner-Robert P. Greiner [45] Patented Dec. 22,1970 [73] Assignee lCP Inc, Attorney-Robert L. Slater, Jr.

Skokie, [IL a corporation of mmols ABSTRACT: A photographic developer device having a transport system for conveying photographic sheet material [54] PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPER DEVICE through a developing media contained in a tray. Pivot means 4 Claims 6 Drawing Figs enables the transport system to be rotated from an operative pos1t1on in uxtaposition with the tray to an open pos1t1on [52] US. Cl. 95/94, away f m the tray. The pivot means comprises a slotted 95/89 inclined opening formed in a bracket for receiving a pivot 1 1111- G039 5/06 finger which is secured on the frame of the transport system. [50] Field of Search 95/89, The inclined d fi i walls f the opening prevents the trans. v 94 port system from slipping out of place when in the operative position and a post also secured on the frame of the transport [56] References cmd system prevents the transport system from slipping out of UNITED STATES PATENTS place when in the open position. The transport system may be 3,277,808 10/1966 Frohock 95/89 completely removed from association with the tray at a point 3,315,583 4/1967 Hunt 95/89(X) between its operative and open positions. A pinion mounted 3,330,197 7/1967 Boeger et al. 95/94 on a drive shaft meshes with a pair of gears and drives the en- 3,375,770 4/1968 Hellyer 95/94 tire transport system.

lO5 4O 44 I05 10 lO4 I l lOO 76 0 53 L- \00 PAIENTEB UECZZISYU 3548734 SHEET 1 OF 2 105 40 44 O5 x04 A .100 76 53 O0 55 M L/ 61 F16! 0 ge a 57 62 46 0 keg 32 87 72 73 34 g L 36 I 99 Ill H 74 w w I '11 i9 9w 1 I I. I, I"! |l h I n "I 25 24 14 22 I I III 106 2 I I INVENTOR FIG-2 BURTON GREENBERG ATTORNEY PATENTEDnEc2219m SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR BURTON GREENBERG Azflzblb ATTORNEY PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPER DEVICE BACKGROUND or INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a device for processing photographic sheet material, and more particularly, relates to a device having a transport system for transporting exposed photographic sheet material through a media for developing the latent image of the material.

Photographic sheet material, such as silver halide, which has been impregnated with a developing agent is generally processed by first wetting the material with an alkaline activator solution of high pH. Then the activatedv material is passed into a stabilizer bath which converts the unexposed and undeveloped silver halide into a relatively light-insensitive stable state.

The recent devices used for processing exposed silver halide photographic sheet material normally comprises a pair of input rollers, the bottom one of whichis partially immersed in activator solution. The sheet material is inserted between the rollers with the emulsion side facing downward. The bottom roller sufficiently wetsthe material to cause the development action.

Another pair of rollers, the bottom roller of which is partially immersed in the stabilizer solution wets the activated material and thereby terminates the developing part of the process. The material isthen guided through a bath of the stabilizer solution and finally into the grip of an output pair of rollers. The output rollers squeeze the excess stabilizer solution from the processed material.

Generally, the quality and sharpness of the developed photographic image substantially decreased after only a brief period of This was attributed primarily to the buildup of excess corrosion causing mechanical malfunction. Consequently, the system was incapable of accurately controlling the developing period and the quantity of activating solution imparted on the photographic sheet material. Furthermore, the accumulation of gelatinous substances and foreign particles often caused distortions and streaks in the sheet material. Due to the inaccessibility of many of the. parts of the transport system, even frequent cleanings of the device did not provide any substantial safeguard or protection from the corrosive buildup and undesireable accumulations. 7

Another undesircable feature of the prior photographic devices was the necessity usually to completely remove the transport system in order to gain access to the tray containing the activator and stabilizer solutions for cleaning, replenishment etc. The removal of the transport system generally required substantial time and effort. Moreover, it was virtually impossible to prevent the solutions from dripping while the transport system was carried to a temporary storage area. Due to the foregoing inconveniences, the users of the prior devices normally neglected to replenish or replace the activating and stabilizer solutions in the frequency necessary to continually produce high-quality reproductions.

In addition, the photographic sheet material frequently would catch on the rollers and guide surfaces and jam inside the device. This required substantial time and effort to free, and at times it was even necemary to call experienced servicemen. Moreover, quite often when trying to release the sheet material, it would tear or develop undesirable sharp creases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The improved device herein overcomes the aforementioned problems by providing a transport system which is rotatable away from its operative position and thereby affords convenient access to the transport system for cleaning, maintenance, adjustment of the rollers and release of jammed photographic sheet material.

Furthermore, the rotatable capability of the transport system also enables convenient access to the tray containing the developing solutions. Thus, the transport system may remain in the same location while the tray is removed, cleaned and filled with fresh solutions.

' Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a photographic developer device having convenient access to the main elements of the device for maintenance and cleaning purposes. A related object is to provide a pivotable transport system for the developer device which may be easily moved from an operative position to an open position to provide convenient access to the tray containing the development solutions and to the transport system.

Another object is to provide a transport system linked to a drive source when in an operative position and disengaged from the drive source, when pivoted to an open position. A re lated object is to provide a gearing arrangement for driving the rollers of the transport system whereby all but one gear is mounted on the transport system.

Still another object is to provide means for moving the photographic material at a constant speed into the developer device and to consistently'impart a uniform amount of activating solution on a'unit length of moving photographic sheet material.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the illustrations in the accompanying drawings and the following specifications and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEDRAWIN GS Referring to the drawings in which the same characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding or similar parts throughout the several figures of the drawings:

FIG 1. is a perspective view of a photographic developer device embodying the principles of the invention, and showing the transport system of the device in an open or nonoperative position;

FIG. 2. is a side sectional view of the developer device, taken on the plane of' the line 2-2 in FIG 3, viewed in the direction indicated, and showing the transport system in an operative position;

. FIG 3 is atop view of the developer device in the operative position;

FIG. 4 is a side view taken from the plane of the line 4-4 in FIG. 3, view in direction indicated, showing a portion of the drive means for the rollers and illustrating in phantom a fragment of the transport system when in the nonoperative position;

FIG 5. is a perspective fragmentary view of the transport system locked on the support bracket when .in the open or nonoperative position; and I I FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, similar to FIG 5, and illustrating the position of the transport system prior to its removal from the developer device.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the several FIGS. ofv the drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates generally a photographic developer device embodying the principles of the invention. The device 10 comprises an elongated base plate 12 on which a substantially rectangular tray 14 is mounted. A photographic transport system indicated generally by the reference numeral 16 is hingeably associated with the baseplate 12. The .transport system 16 has an operative position as shown in FIG 3 for conveying photographic sheet material 17 (FIG. 2) from an input 18 to an output 19. The transport system 16 has a nonoperative position away from tray 14, as shown in FIG. 1, to afford convenient access to the transport system 16 for cleaning and maintenance purposes. The photographic developer device 10 is described and illustrated as being used for developing photographic sheet materials 17 in a stabilization liquid process. It is, however, within the contemplation of the invention to utilize the features and principles of the improved developer device 10 in other applications than the sta- A concave guide member 29 (FIGS. 1 and 2) is positioned in the rear compartment 25 between the partition wall22 and a rear longitudinal wall 30 of the tray 14. The surface of the guide member 29 guides the photographic material out from the stabilizer solution 28.

The transport system 16 comprises a plurality of spacedapart pairs of cooperating rollers to transfer the photographic sheet material inward from the input 18 to the output 19 when the transport system is in the operative position (FIGS. 2 and 4). In the illustrative embodiment, these pairs of rollers include a pair of input feed rollers 44, a second pair of rollers 46, a third pair of rollers 48 and an output pair of rollers 50. The rollers are all journaled to the sidewalls 34, 36 and extend laterally therebetween.

With particular reference to FIG 2, the rollers will be described with greater detail. The input pair of feed rollers 44 comprises a top roller 51 having a central rotating shaft 52 and a bottom roller 53 having a central rotating shaft 54. The shafts 52 and 54 lie substantially in a vertical plane with respect to the base plate 12. Preferably, the bottom roller should be positioned slightly inward to compensate for the drooping of the material wetted by the bottom roller 53.

The second pair of rollers 46 is spaced from the input feed rollers 44 and includesa'top roller 55 having a central rotating shaft 56 and a bottom roller 57 having a central rotating shaft .58. Shaft 58 is disposed slightly more inward than shaft 56.

The bottom rollers 53, 57 extend inside the front compartment 24 for the tray 14 and are partially immersed in the activating solution 27. v

The third pair of rollers 48 is positioned inward from the second pair of rollers 46 and comprises a top roller 60 with a central rotating shaft 61 and a bottom roller 62 with a central rotating shaft 63. The outward surface of the bottom roller 62 toward the front of the device is positioned slightly closer to the second input pair of rollers than the corresponding surface of top roller 60.

The bottom roller 62 is positioned in the rear compartment 26 of the tray 14 and is partially immersed in the stabilizer solution 28 (FIG. 2).

The output pair of rollers 50 comprises an upper roller 64 having an upper central rotating shaft 65 and a lower roller 66 having a lower central rotating shaft 67. The upper and lower shafts 65, 67 lie on an inclined plane with respect to the base plate 12. The lower roller 66 lies between the longitudinal rear wall 30 and the concave guide member 29.

The output roller pair 50 receives the'developed photographic sheet material as it moves out from the stabilizer solution 28 in the rear compartment 25. The .roller pair 50 squeezes the excess stabilizer solution 28 back into the rear compartment 25 while pulling the sheet material into the output 19. The material is virtually dry after passing through the output rollers.

An elongated rod 70 is rigidly mounted to the sidewalls 34, 36 and extends laterally therebetween (FIGS. 2 and 4). An elongated convex guide member 71 is mounted to the rod 61 and lies between the third roller pair 48 and the output roller pair 50. The cooperation of the convex guide member 71 and the concave guide member 29 guides the photographic sheet material from'the third roller pair 48, through the stabilizing solution 28 and into the grip of the output roller pair 50.

A drive means rotates the roller pairs 44, 46, 48 and 50, after a power on-olf switch 72 (FIGS. 1 and 3) is turned on. A drive motor (not shown) is mounted inside a rectangular housing 73. The housing 73 is rigidly secured to the base plate 12. A rotating main drive shaft 76 drives a pinion 75 (FIGS. 1 and 3) fixedly secured at outer end thereof. The remaining elements of the drive means are mounted to the transport system 16, as may be seen from viewing FIG I.

The pinion 75 meshes with a main gear 76 and a main gear 78 adjacent to the sidewall 34}, when the transport system 16 is in the operative position (FIGS. 1, 3 and 4). Main gear 76 is attached to the outer end of shaft 52 of the top roller 51 of input feed rollers 44 (FIG 3). Main gear 78 is attached to the outer end of shaft 56 of the top roller 55 of the second pair of rollers 46.

mounted on shaft 65 of the upper roller64 of the output roller pair 50. A continuous belt 84 having a plurality of spaced grooves 85 is positioned on inner gear 80 and output gear 82. The rotation of inner gear 8 0 revolves the belt 84, which in turn revolves output gear 82 and shaft 65.'

A drive gear 86 is fixedlyattached to the outer end of the top roller shaft 56 of the second roller pair 46 adjacent the sidewall 36. A driven gear 87 is attached to the outer end of the shaft 61 of the top roller 60 of the third roller pair 48 adjacent sidewall 36. A transmitting gear 88 attached to a stub shaft 89 meshes with the drive gear 86 and driven gear 87 and transmits the rotationof drive gear 86' to the driven gear 87 causing the rotation of top roller 60.

As pinion 75 rotates the main gears 76,- 78, the shafts 52 and 56 rotate causing the rotation of drive gears 80 and 86. The rotation of drive gear 810 revolves belt 84 causing driven gear 82 and shaft 65 to rotate. The rotation of drive gear 86 rotates transmitting gear 88 causing driven gear 87 and shaft 61 to rotate. Therefore, the rotation of main gears 76, 78 by pinion 75 drives the input roller pair 44 and the second roller pair 46. The belt 84 drives the output roller pair 50 and the rotation of transmitting gear 88 by drive gear 86 drives the third roller pair 48. Moreover, the top rollers 51, 55 and 60-and the upper roller 64 function as drive rollers, and the bottom rollers 53, 57 and 62 and lower roller 66 respectively function as cooperating idler rollers. I

The transport system 16 is removably supported by a pair of opposed right angled support brackets 90 (FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6) with each having a bottom leg 91 rigidly mounted to the base plate 12 and top leg 92 extending upward therefrom. An inclined opening 93 extends upwardly from an inner arcuate support edge 94 (FIG. 6).

A finger member 95 extends outwardly from sidewalls 34, 36 and extends through openings 93 of the support brackets 90. The frame 32 of they transport system 16 is pivotable around the fingers 95 at the inner ends 96 thereof. In the operative position for transport system 16, the finger members 95 bear against the lower edges 97 of opening 9 3 (FIG. 4).

A post 98 extends outward from each sidewall 34, 36

(FIGS. 5 and 6) adjacent the corresponding finger member 95. The posts 98 lock the transport system '16 to the support brackets 90 when in the open position. As may be seen from FIG 6, the posts 98 lie adjacent the back edge 99 of the bracket members 90 and prevent finger members 95 from slipping out from the openings 93. To completely remove the transport system 16 from the support brackets 90, the transport system 16 is pivoted to the angled position shown in FIG. 6 and the fingers 95 are lifted away from openings 93.

A locking means 100 secures the transport system 16 to the base plate 12 when the transport system 16 is in the operative position. The locking means 100 (FIGS. 1 and 2) comprises a movable peg 102 which expands a sleeve member 104 extending downward from a leg 105. An aperture 106 is formed in 33 the base plate 12 to receive the sleeve 104. Pressing the peg p 102 downward expands the sleeve 104 causing a tight fitting and locking relationship between the defining edge of the aperture 106 and sleeve 104.

When the photographic developer device 10 is in the operative position (FIGS. 2 and 3), the photographic sheet material 5 17 with the emulsion-side face downward is inserted at input 18 into the grip of input feed rollers 44. The sheet material is then passed to the second roller pair 46. The bottom rollers 53, 57, partially immersed in the activating solution 27, evenly wet the moving material to cause the developing action.

The activated material is then transported to the third pair 1* of rollers 48. Since the bottom roller 62 is partially immersed 45 in the stabilizer solution 28, the stabilizer solution is imparted onto the passing material to immediately terminate the developing action. The third pair of rollers then leads the material into the stabilizer solution contained in the rear compartment 25. The convex member 71 and the concave guide member 29 guide the material through the stabilizer solution and to the output roller pair 50. The output roller pair 50 pulls the material from the stabilizer solution, squeezes the excess solution back into the rear compartment 25 and conveys the material to the output 19. v

The cooperation of the plurality of roller pairs enables the device to accurately control the developing process. The input roller pair 44 and second roller pair 46 afi'ord a positive grip on the material 17 whereby substantially equal amounts of activating solution per unit length of sheet material are consistently applied to'the moving sheet material. The third set of rollers 48 adjacent the front of the rear compartment also affords a positive grip on the material at the precise instant it is desired to terminate the developing action to insure a positive grip on the leading edge of the material as the sheet at that point begins to bend downward. Note that the third pair of rollers is positioned slightly lower than the first two roller pairs.

Moreover, the pivoting capability and complete removability of the transport system 16 from the base plate 12 affords convenient access to all the parts of the transport system. This enables the transport system to be emciently and effectively cleaned and maintained to prevent the buildup of corrosion which frequently caused mechanical malfunction and substantially reduced the useful life of the prior developer devices. Moreover, the pivoting of the transport system 16 affords convenient means for releasing jammed photographic sheet material.

Furthermore, the disengaging of the drive gear for the transport system from the main drive shafi'74 is accomplished by merely pivoting the transport system away from the pinion 75. The linking of 1 the gears with the main. drive shaft 74 is achieved by bringing the main gears into meshing contact with the pinion 75. Also, by arranging the gears so that only the pinion gear 75 is in a fixed position, no aligning or gear adjustment is necessary when moving the transport system from the nonoperative and open position to the operative position.

The foregoing specification and description are intended as illustrative of the invention, thescope of which is defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a photographic developer device including a tray supported one base plate holding developing media for developing an exposed length of photographic sheet material and a transport system, said transport system comprising:

a frame;

a transport means mounted to said frame;

at least one bracket mounted to said base plate adjacent the rear of the tray;

an inclined opening formed in said bracket;

a finger extended out from the frame, said bracket supporting said transport means when the finger passes through the opening to enable said transport means to be rotated from the operative position to the open position; I

a post member extended out from the frame, said post member being positioned to support the transport means in a substantially upright position when in the open position;

a first pair of rollers and a second pair of rollers joumaled to said frame, the rollers of each of said pairs comprising a drive roller and an idler roller;

a power means including a rotating shaft supporting pinion;

a first main gear associated with the drive roller of the first roller pair and a second main gear associated with the drive roller of the second roller pair;

a drive gear associated with one of said drive rollers, and said first and second main gears being rotated by said pinion and causing the corresponding drive roller of the first and second roller pairs to rotate and said drive gear to rotate;

a third pair of rollers journaled to said frame and comprising a drive roller and an idler roller;

a drive gear associated with the drive roller of said third pair of rollers,- and a a transmitting gear meshing with the drive gear and driven gear whereby the rotation of the drive gear causes the transmitting gear to rotate for rotating the driven gear and the third pair of rollers.

2. The photographic developer device of claim 1, wherein:

a second drive gear is associated with the first roller pair;

a second driven gear is associated with a drive roller of a fourth pair of rollers; and

a continuous belt is supported on the second drive gear and the second drive driven gear whereby the rotation of the first main gear causing the second drive gear to revolve the belt and thereby rotate the second driven gear and the fourth pair of rollers.

3. The developer device of claim 2, wherein:

the tray comprises a first compartment containing a first solution and a second compartment containing a second solution, the idler rollers of the first and second pair of rollers being partially immersed in the first solution, the idler roller of the third pair of rollers being partially immersed in the second solution, the. fourth pair of rollers being positioned adjacent the rear of the second compartment, said sheet material being wetted with the first solution by the idler rollers of the first and second roller pairs, said sheet being wetted with the second solution by the idler roller of the third set of rollers; and

aconvex guide member cooperates with a concave guide member to guide said sheet from the third set of rollers into the second solution and into the grip of the fourth set of rollers, said convex guide member being secured to the transport system, said concave guide member being positioned inside the second compartment of said tray.

4. In a photographic device includinga traysupported on a base plate holding developing media for developing an exposed length of photographic sheet material and a transport system, said transport system comprising:

having a pair of opposed sidewalls;

a power source including a rotating shaft supporting a pinion;

a transport means mounted to saidframe, said transport means being rotated from an operative position in juxtaposition with said tray to an open position away from said tray;

a plurality of gears associated with the transport means, at least one of said gears meshing with the pinion to drive the transport means when the transport means is in the operative position, said one gear disengaging from the pinion when the transport system is in the open position;

a pair of opposed brackets mounted to said base plate adjacent the rear of the tray;

an opening formed in each bracket, said opening inclining downwardly from the front edge of said bracket;

a finger extending outward from each sidewall, said bracket providing support for the transport means when the ringer passes through the opening, said fingers rotating in said opening when said transport system is rotated from the operative to the open position; and

a post member extending out from said sidewalls, said post member being positioned adjacent the back edge of the corresponding bracket to support'the transport means, when the transport means is in the open position. 

